In South Carolina, ‘potentially historic’ flooding after days of rainfall

Residents urged to not go out

Washington Post

October 4, 2015Updated: October 4, 2015 11:18pm

Photo: Mic Smith /Associated Press

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David Linnen takes a yard rake to clear drains in front of the evacuated Winyah Apartments in Georgetown, S.C. President Barack Obama has signed an emergency declaration for South Carolina.

David Linnen takes a yard rake to clear drains in front of the evacuated Winyah Apartments in Georgetown, S.C. President Barack Obama has signed an emergency declaration for South Carolina.

Photo: Mic Smith /Associated Press

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COLUMBIA, SC - OCTOBER 4: Homes are inundated by flood waters October 4, 2015 in Columbia, South Carolina. The state of South Carolina experienced record rainfall amounts over the weekend. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) less

COLUMBIA, SC - OCTOBER 4: Homes are inundated by flood waters October 4, 2015 in Columbia, South Carolina. The state of South Carolina experienced record rainfall amounts over the weekend. (Photo by Sean ... more

Photo: Sean Rayford, Stringer / Getty Images

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Jordan Bennett of Rock Hill, S.C., paddles up to a flooded store in Columbia, the capital, which had a record amount of rainfall.

Jordan Bennett of Rock Hill, S.C., paddles up to a flooded store in Columbia, the capital, which had a record amount of rainfall.

Photo: Chuck Burton /Associated Press

In South Carolina, ‘potentially historic’ flooding after days of rainfall

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CHARLESTON, S.C. — Record rainfall lashed South Carolina on Sunday, resulting in what the National Weather Service called “potentially historic and life-threatening flooding.”

South Carolina authorities, pleading with residents to stay put, rescued dozens of people trying to cross flooded roads and evacuated people to high ground.

One woman was reported killed in the hard-hit capital, Columbia, authorities said, after her vehicle was swept away in the flooding. The body of the woman, whose name was not released, was found Sunday afternoon, about 12 hours after she disappeared, the Associated Press reported.

The South Carolina Highway Patrol reported three weather-related traffic fatalities over the weekend.

Gov. Nikki Haley at a news conference Sunday said parts of her state were hit by once-in-a-thousand-years rainfall. The Congaree River in Columbia was at its highest since 1936, she said.

Hurricane Joaquin had spared the East Coast a direct hit but pummeled the Bahamas. A ribbon of the hurricane’s tropical moisture led to two days of heavy rainstorms that caused so much misery in South Carolina.

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Some parts of the state received more than 20 inches of rain in three days — “mind-boggling” amounts, according to the weather service — that washed away roads, knocked down power lines and turned trickling streams into gushing currents that threatened to knock out bridges and buildings.

At times on Sunday, as much as 3 inches of rain per hour fell. Television reports showed catastrophic scenes of rising water flooding homes and businesses, people kayaking and canoeing down streets turned into rivers, and parking lots so flooded that the water almost swallowed cars whole.

The emergency management division issued a civil emergency message, urging people to stay put “due to the severe weather and flash flooding across the state.” Some areas were under a curfew, and a portion of Interstate 95 was closed.

The rainfall in Columbia on Sunday was “unprecedented,” Thom Berry, a spokesman for the emergency management division, said.

The state’s National Guard was involved in some of the rescues on Sunday, using its Black Hawk helicopters to run what it said were “multiple missions,” according to its Facebook page.

On Saturday, President Barack Obama signed an emergency declaration for South Carolina, allowing the state to access federal emergency aid.